Success At Smokies!
By Sophia Chen and Astha Mehta
Between bags of SkinnyPop and Chipotle runs, Vestavia's robotics team 99040B Blackout had plenty of ways to keep themselves fueled throughout the Smoky Mountain Forge Signature Event. On October 9th-10th, the team travelled to Tennessee to compete against teams across North America. Blackout placed first in preliminary matches, advanced to the finals of the tournament, and also earned the build award.
This year’s game, Override, challenges teams to design, build, and program robots to compete in a series of fast-paced matches. During each match, two alliances (red or blue), each made up of two teams, work to score points by stacking cups and pins of their color or yellow. Toward the end of each match, teams fight to flip the four toggles to their alliance color, which can significantly impact their score. Matches also include an autonomous period, during which robots follow preprogrammed instructions without driver control. Teams that win the autonomous period earn additional points toward their final score.
Team Blackout had many lengthy practices, with the team meeting almost every day after school and every weekend from morning to night. Ronan Woertz estimates they worked about 40 hours together in-person, but many late night phone calls for planning and designing the robot added more preparation time. Throughout practices, the boys took breaks by playing basketball, video games, or eating lots and lots of snacks. Team practices (and snacks) didn’t stop during the tournament either. At around 9 at night the boys headed to the Airbnb where one team member was staying to strategize for the day ahead and enjoy some boba together. Although exhausted from the busy day, they still managed to talk through some key points, with Ronan leading the strategizing effort.
Before the tournament, the boys worked hard, but were still nervous about their first competition of the season. However, they did feel confident about Liam Booker’s skills in driving the robot, as his experience in past seasons has trained him to make quick decisions during matches. Additionally, they felt very confident about the notebook, where teams log all of their steps in designing the robot. Wilkes DeArman, the main notebooker, spent many hours perfecting the document, which is hundreds of pages long, filled with key information about the robot.
During the qualification rounds, Blackout went undefeated with a 9-0 record, scoring as many as 140 points in a single match. Their strong performance earned them a spot in the elimination rounds, where they selected team 68699A, Driving Nuggets, from San Jose, California, as their alliance partner. Together, the teams advanced all the way to the finals, competing in a best-of-three series. Although Blackout ultimately fell short, reaching the finals marked a strong finish to their first tournament of the season.
In addition to their tournament performance, Blackout earned a combined 136 points in the skills challenge, with 38 points in autonomous and 98 in driver skills. This score placed them first in Alabama's skills rankings.
Moving forward, Blackout hopes to build on its success at the Smoky Mountain Forge Signature Event by continuing to refine its robot, improve its strategy and strengthen its teamwork. With the rest of the season ahead, the team looks forward to competing in future tournaments and continuing to push its performance further.
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